The Minecraft Teacher

Back to school.

Long time no post.

So one day I had this idea to use Minecraft in my class. It worked really, really well. It was transformative for both my students and myself. It was like discovering a new secret power to reach into the minds of kids.

And I couldn’t figure out why no one else was doing the same thing. It turned out a handful of other awesome educators were also using Minecraft back then in 2011. It just took us a while to find each other. And I met even more people who believed in the idea and wanted to be supportive. At first I found myself in a unique position to start bringing groups of people together.

But one thing led to another and I ended up leaving a perfectly respectable teaching career to play a lot more Minecraft. And to help other students and teachers do the same.

I got to interact with amazingly talented people from all over the world. Teachers, librarians, researchers, curators, historians. Journalists, developers, technicians, philanthropists, businesspeople, scientists. Even a certain billionaire. And kids! City kids, country kids, rich kids, poor kids. Lucky kids, struggling kids. European kids.

All that plus getting to work with some wonderfully Finnish geniuses who I now consider family. And a handful of madcap Swedes that started it all by making a game that the whole world fell in love with.

But I am leaving TeacherGaming and sailing away from Minecraft’s blocky shores for a while.

I am going back to the classroom. Next year I’ll be teaching full time at a new school here in New York City with elementary school kids. I truly missed it. It’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever known. And there are SOO many fun projects I want to try. But more importantly, this change means I can by more in sync with my own family’s needs.

It’s been an absolute honor to work with Minecraft. The game and the community are a shining example of everything that’s good about the Internet and living in the 21st century. At the end of the day it’s just a game. A really, really, really good game. But what makes it special are the things people do with it. The connections we make with other human beings that the game can facilitate. Be that in a classroom, on a server, or in a museum gallery.

I feel quite lucky to have been involved during this unbelievably cool time period in Minecraft’s development.

There are SOOOOOOO many amazing people doing inspiring work with Minecraft, both in and out of schools. We educators are only just starting to explore the power of games to teach and (more importantly) to shape lives of young people. These are the early days. There are much more powerful experiences ahead.

I think I will be playing Minecraft forever. Just like I keep playing other games that have had a personal impact on my life. And I’ve still got a couple cool Minecraft projects going on in the background. I’m hoping it’s easier to share more of what I’m doing, now that it’s not all entwined with the business side of things.

What would you like to hear/see from me? I have no idea what I am going to do with my students next year. And that’s such a cool feeling! I don’t even know if I’m going to use Minecraft for sure.

But if people are still interested, I’m happy to keep sharing what I’m working on.

Peace out, kids.

~Joel
P.S. I think I might have to change my twitter handle at some point…

MinecraftEdu & Minecraft: Education Edition

minecraftedu:

As you might have already heard, Microsoft will be acquiring MinecraftEdu. You can read their announcement here. We’ll be posting FAQ on our website later today but here are some quick facts for MinecraftEdu users: 

• You can keep using MinecraftEdu as long as you like.
• MinecraftEdu sales will continue normally for now.
• MinecraftEdu owners will be offered one year of the new Education Edition for free.
• MinecraftEdu Hosted Servers will keep working, and can still sign up for one.
• TeacherGaming won’t be going anywhere and we have new exciting plans for the future!

We wanted to take the opportunity and share our thoughts on the matter. 

Ever since Microsoft purchased Mojang in late 2014, we have been working with their team to plan for the future. We are happy that these plans can now be discussed openly. Microsoft will release an entirely new version of the game called Minecraft: Education Edition that will have many features inspired by MinecraftEdu. Microsoft will also use their impressive resources and reach to bring Minecraft into far more classrooms than ever before. We believe that Minecraft’s educational potential has barely been explored and that there are exciting times ahead.

When we started TeacherGaming in 2011, we had no idea where this journey would take us. Our company was founded entirely by teachers and programmers who were determined to make a different kind product for classrooms. We believed that great games could empower teachers to deliver new and meaningful experiences for students. And we were privileged to work with one of the greatest games of all time – Minecraft! 

We experimented, we iterated, we sought out early adopters. We listened to teachers, students, parents, administrators, researchers, and more. We owe a debt to all these innovative people who imagined new ways to teach and learn. They helped shape MinecraftEdu into what is has become. We are incredibly proud of the product we created and its impact on students worldwide.
Both TeacherGaming and Microsoft are committed to making this transition a smooth one. In the next several days we will be releasing more information about how this change affects current MinecraftEdu users and what to expect. But we wanted to share some basic facts today.

Anyone who wishes to keep using MinecraftEdu can continue to do so. We recognize that thousands of schools have invested time and resources in developing their MinecraftEdu offerings. The game will continue to function just as it has for the foreseeable future. If you are using our Hosting Service to run your servers in the cloud, everything will keep working. In fact, we’ve been adding features to our hosting service to make it better than ever!
If you choose to migrate from MinecraftEdu to the Minecraft: Education Edition once it becomes available, you’ll receive a free year of service from Microsoft. More details soon.

We hope that people will look back on MinecraftEdu as a kind of laboratory that explored the possibilities of new kinds of learning. We helped map the contours of how a game like Minecraft could affect the future of education. And every day we were inspired by the creative ways that teachers and students used the game. Ultimately, we brought MinecraftEdu to over 10,000 schools in more than 45 countries. It is currently used at every level from kindergarten through graduate school, and it has been applied to nearly all subject areas. 

TeacherGaming will carry on with its mission to bring great games to the classroom. We continue to work on KerbalEdu which is based on the award-winning Kerbal Space Program. And we’ll be making other exciting announcements about our portfolio of games soon, too! There is still so much untapped potential for using games to educate, inspire, and connect with students. We can’t wait to continue the journey.

-The TeacherGaming Team

“Keep learning fun!”

This morning we made the announcement that Microsoft is acquiring MinecraftEdu. I wrote the following blog post explaining some details:

We recently received this letter in our mailbox, and I thought I’d share my reply.

Hello Ethan!

My name is Joel Levin. I’m one of the owners of TeacherGaming, the company that makes MinecraftEdu. I’m also a teacher who has used Minecraft myself in my own classes. I got your letter and wanted to respond.

Sorry to hear that Minecraft has been made against the rules at your school. The idea of a computer game being used in school is often very strange to people. Many adults grew up with their parents and teachers telling them that games were just a “waste of time” or would “rot your brain”. They may not realize how much thinking, planning, and research are required to be successful with a game like Minecraft. 

With Minecraft you can explore historical worlds, set up science experiment, write stories, or learn to program a computer. But many adults who haven’t played it may think it’s just playing with blocks or killing zombies.

Maybe it would be helpful if they understood that there are MANY different ways to play Minecraft. Playing at school will be different than playing at home. If you are using a version like MinecraftEdu, then teachers have full control over the experience. They can create a safe and private environment just for their students. They can choose to turn off the violent aspects of the game, give assignments, and keep things focused.

You might want to show them our list of resources for educators looking to use the game:
http://minecraftedu.com/resources

You could point them to these real world examples of classrooms using Minecraft:
http://services.minecraftedu.com/wiki/Examples_by_Subject

Or you could show them this collection of teacher-created Minecraft worlds that explore a huge variety of subject:
http://services.minecraftedu.com/worlds/

But sometimes the best way to convince people about the educational value of Minecraft is to show them something personal that you’ve done in the game that you are proud of. Don’t just show them what you did – explain how and why you did it. Did you learn anything from the experience? What decisions did you have to make. Did you have to do research? Did you use any math or other skills? Did you learn to use any tool like art programs or video editors?

Now, sometimes adults focus only the negative aspects of playing Minecraft. They feel it can be addictive, or they hear about fights that start over the game, scamming, griefing, etc. It may be hard for them to also see the potential.

When trying to convince people of the value of Minecraft in school, I often use the example of sports like basketball. Everyone understand that playing basketball in the park with friends or strangers is one kind of experience. Playing in Phys Ed class with a coach is something very different. Both have value and both can offer worthwhile experiences. Minecraft is similar. When the kids are playing with an adult facilitator and keeping educational goals in mind, it’s a very unique and inspiring experience!

But for me, personally, the biggest reason to play Minecraft in school is because kids love it. They are more engaged with the subjects they are learning if they are using Minecraft as a classroom tool. And they have more fun. People sometimes forget that school can be fun – and should be fun!

Feel free to share this letter with your superintendent or other adults at your school. And I am happy to answer any questions that they have.

Thank you for writing! Hope this is helpful.

~Joel

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

via minecraftedu::

TeacherGaming is proud to announce ComputerCraftEdu, a new and unique mod for Minecraft and MinecraftEdu. Using the mod, players learn to code within the familiar and endlessly engaging world of Minecraft. We know that children learn best when the discovery process is driven by their own passions and interests. And to millions of boys and girls worldwide, there is nothing more interesting than Minecraft!

(Credit to Jeni “Maize” Krouse for the awesome Letter Blocks mod in the gif!)

We set out to create something different with ComputerCraftEdu. In the real world, programmers use code to improve their daily lives, solve problems, and automate difficult or repetitive tasks. Similarly, in ComputerCraftEdu, players apply their knowledge of programming concepts to improve their Minecraft experience. Players will meet friendly mechanical turtles. These turtles can be given instructions by dragging and dropping tiles in an intuitive interface that is instantly familiar to Minecraft players. As players’ ability increases, they can take off the “training wheels” and start controlling their turtles directly with real code.

After more than two years of refinement and testing in real-world classrooms, we are thrilled to finally share ComputerCraftEdu with Minecraft players everywhere! We hope the mod provides children opportunities to experience the feelings of power and joy that come from learning to code. And for educators, we hope the mod provides a fresh tool that empowers their teaching practice and engages their students.

Teachers using MinecraftEdu can simply upgrade to automatically receive ComputerCraftEdu today. Home users can download the mod directly from the website www.computercraftedu.com.

ComputerCraftEdu was made by a collaboration between our learning designers and Daniel “Dan200″ Ratcliffe, creator of the original ComputerCraft mod.

Your support is needed!

I’m hoping that you will consider helping out a truly remarkable individual and one of the unsung heroes of the Minecraft community.

In the three years that I’ve been working with Minecraft, I’ve been privileged to meet some truly remarkable people. Among them is Davin “Bohtauri” Taylor – the man behind the amazing Project 1845. 

The goal of Project 1845 is to build nothing less than a full 1:1 reconstruction of historical Beijing in Minecraft. The team members, led by Davin, already have the entire Forbidden City constructed and are diligently working away on houses, temples, farms, barracks, and more. Davin has pledged to make custom versions of his map available for use with MinecraftEdu so that schools everywhere can use it to educate about this fascinating time period.

But I was quite distressed to learn that the project, and indeed Davin himself, are facing the most dire circumstances. Davin has a life threatening illness and is unable to get the medical attention he needs.

Davin has set up a donation page with more details about his situation and condition here: http://www.gofundme.com/5xobx4

If you can, please consider helping out!

MinecraftEdu 1.5.1 is now available!

After a long winter of bug fixing, polishing, and cramming in new features, we are delighted to announce that MinecraftEdu has been updated.  As always, MinecraftEdu customers can grab the latest version on our Members’ site.

You can see a detailed changelog on our wiki, but here are some of the biggest additions and improvements:

• Based on Minecraft 1.5.1 (we caught up, woo!)
• Support for most Forge mods (this is a big deal!)
• Improved in-game world controls
• Improved teacher’s ‘Give Menu’ to allow any item to be given, including those from mods
• More informative server displays
• Improved Mac support
• Updated WorldEdit functionality
• Ability to automatically upgrade or downgrade (we also changed our version number system to make things more clear)
• Lots of polish including tool-tips, new icons, and more!
• Support for Online World Templates (still experimental)

We’d like to talk about that last item for a moment.  One of our dreams for MinecraftEdu has always been to allow the seamless sharing of educational Minecraft worlds.  That dream is one step closer to reality with Online World Templates.  

The idea is that anyone can make a world/lesson/activity, augment the content with custom MinecraftEdu features, and then share it with teachers everywhere.  Teachers can browse what’s available, download a world, and get a server running with that content in just a few clicks.  This basic functionality is now working!

We still have a long way to go, and we haven’t made much content available yet… but we didn’t want to keep this feature to ourselves.  We think Online World Templates will be an indispensable feature of MinecraftEdu and we can’t wait to hear your feedback!

~Joel

Off to Paris… and some “thanks”.

My blog has been sorely neglected for far too long.  I do apologize.  But I thought I’d dash out a quick note to reflect on a few things.  And perhaps give thanks as us Americans are prone to do on certain Thursdays in November.

I’ve just come from my parents’ house where I enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  I’m now sitting at Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey waiting for a flight to Paris, France…  my first trip to Europe!

I am, of course, headed to Minecon, the second annual convention for the Minecraft community.  I’m going to be participating in two panels.  For the first, I’ll be moderating a discussion with other educators about using Minecraft with children.  And for the second, the entire MinecraftEdu team will be joining me on stage to talk about the creation of our mod and the ways it is being used worldwide.

If you’re going to be at Minecon, make sure to find me and say hi!

It still makes my head spin to think about all the changes in my life and opportunities that have come my way over the past two years.  All because I decided to try this crazy new game that was still in Alpha with my students.

I am thankful for the many supporters who have sent me words of encouragement or helped to promote my work.  I’m thankful for the dozens of other teachers that have shared their classroom experiences with me, offered inspiration, discussed intricacies, and shared pedagogical ideas.  I am thankful for Mojang’s continued support and guidance, and for the awesome MinecraftEdu team who have been on this roller coaster with me.  And I am thankful for my students and their crazy, passionate, innocent energy that reminds me every day why it’s so important to advocate for new ways to teach and to make school relevant, engaging, and meaningful to today’s children.

And, of course, I am overwhelmingly thankful to my family, friends, and colleagues whose support means everything to me.